The captain was handed 16 years in prison after a trial in Italy for crashing the cruise liner into a reef on January 13, 2012.

He was convicted of manslaughter, causing the shipwreck and abandoning ship while many of the 4,200 passengers and crew were still on board.

Capt Schettino sailed the 950ft cruise liner dangerously close to the Island of Giglio’s rocky shores in a move to impress crew members.

Some of the victims, including a five-year-old girl, died when they were trapped in their cabins, others fell into flooded lift shafts or died after being pulled under the massive ship as it collapsed.

Lawyers for four British crew members and six British ex-pats living in Spain who were on the ship have now launched a legal battle.

They seek damages for any injuries and psychological after-effects they may have suffered, including post-traumatic stress disorder, flashbacks, nightmares and a fear of travelling.

SHIPWRECK: The wreckage of the Costa Concordia was refloated and towed away in 2014 [AFP/GETTY]

“It dawned on me that I was not going to be rescued - I started to really panic.”

British passenger Rosalyn Rincon

Philip Banks, from law firm Irwin Mitchell, said: "All of our clients suffered a horrendous ordeal which some may never truly overcome.

"The trauma they have been through has left some of them needing specialist therapy and counselling to come to terms with what happened and enable them to begin to move on with their lives."

Joe Stribley, from Maidstone in Kent worked as a dancer on the Costa Concordia and was off duty when it capsized.

He said: "I could hear glasses falling off the shelves and smashing on the floor. Then came the signal to abandon ship.

"I saw the ship was starting to sink and extreme panic set in and I thought that I was going to die.

"People started to jump into the water and feeling this was my only option, I did the same."

The 23-year-old said he suffered with "terrible flashbacks and nightmares" and he struggled to sleep for a number of weeks.

Fellow dancer Rosalyn Rincon from Blackpool in Lancashire said she also "had no choice" but to swim to shore from the doomed liner.

The 33-year-old said: "It felt like a horrible nightmare. I was trying to help other passengers get to safety and then suddenly realised that there were no other lifeboats.

"It dawned on me that I was not going to be rescued - I couldn't stop shaking and started to really panic."

She was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and started counselling sessions to help with horrifying flashbacks.